Evaluation of the Frequency of Cases of Mother-In-Law Abuse Referred to Fars Forensic Medicine, Iran During the Years 2016 To 2018

Domestic violence has been considered as a common and major problem threatening the mental and physical health of the victims, and is one of the most important sources of stress within the family. The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of mother-in-law abuse referred to Fars Forensic Medicine from 2016 to 2018.

All the cases of mother-in-law abuse confirmed by the official experts of Shiraz Forensic Medical Examination Centers during the years 2016 to 2018 were investigated.

In the present study, showed that the frequency of mother-in-law abuse was 20.4% in 2016, 35.9% in 2017, and 43.7% in 2018. The highest frequency of education for the bride was a bachelor's degree (38.8%) and in the mother-in-law, it was a diploma (28.4%). The most frequent marital status in the case of the bride was living with her husband 67% and most of the mothers-in-law were married 63.1%. In this study, a considerable proportion of the mothers-in-law were living apart from the bride (61.8%). Also, 96.1% of the subject brides were residents of the city, and age was found as a major risk factor for being the victim of domestic violence.

Based on the findings of the present study, physical violence was less common, and psychological violence was shown to be more common. In most cases, the differentiation of the types of violence is difficult because most of the violence occurs at the same time. Training communication skills and conflict resolution for couples can be effective in reducing domestic violence.